Sensex, Nifty end flat amid volatility; FMCG, consumable durable stocks rise on tax relief
After opening on a positive note, the 30-share BSE Sensex marginally gained 0.01 per cent, or 5.39 points, to settle at 77,505.96 and the broader Nifty 50 lost 0.11 per cent, or 26.25 points to finish at 23,482.15.
Domestic benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended flat on Saturday in a highly volatile special trading session for the Union Budget amid a below-expected increase in capital expenditure and reduction in personal income tax rates announced to give a fillip to the slowing consumption in the country.
After opening on a positive note, the 30-share BSE Sensex marginally gained 0.01 per cent, or 5.39 points, to settle at 77,505.96 and the broader Nifty 50 lost 0.11 per cent, or 26.25 points to finish at 23,482.15. The liquidity in the market was low in the absence of foreign investors.
While the benchmark indices witnessed volatility, shares of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables and auto companies rose on Saturday helped by the income tax relief announced in the Budget.
In the choppy trading session, the Sensex saw a swing of around 893 points and Nifty of 314.15 points. When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman started her budget speech at 11 AM, the Sensex was at 77,773.27, touched a high of 77,808.36 at around 11:45 am and then declined to 77,228.87 when she ended her speech at around 12:15 pm. The Nifty was at 23591.12 at 11 am, reached 23,622.07 at 11:45 am and then dropped to 23498.24 at 12:15 pm.
“I would divide the Budget into two parts. One is on the personal taxation front, where the announcements were better than expected. These announcements would help boost consumption maybe after some time. Second is the outlay on capex, which essentially disappointed the market to an extent. The finance minister is depending more on the private sector to start spending,” said independent market analyst Ambrish Baliga.
The selling in the market was seen as the Finance Bill 2025 proposed to hike the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on income from certain remaining securities from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent from April 1, 2026 for foreign institutional investors (FIIs).
In the Budget 2025-26, the finance minister announced a capital expenditure of about Rs 11.21 lakh crore for FY 2025-26, compared to Rs 10.18 lakh crore revised estimate for the current fiscal.
On the personal income tax front, the finance minister rationalised tax slabs by increasing the tax exemption limit up to Rs 12 lakh.
“To tax payers upto Rs 12 lakh of normal income (other than special rate income such as capital gains) tax rebate is being provided in addition to the benefit due to slab rate reduction in such a manner that there is no tax payable by them,” Sitharaman said.
To reduce the multiplicity of rates and compliance burden, the Budget also proposed to bring down certain tax deduction at source (TDS).
According to Sakshi Gupta, Principal Economist, HDFC Bank, the rationalisation of income tax slabs across the board along with the revision in the limits of the TDS is likely to spur consumer demand and savings by the middle class that has faced challenges from elevated inflation and lower income growth.
Bank of Baroda Chief Economist Madan Sabnavis said that major relief for individual taxpayers was a demand for long which was met quite decisively in the budget.
“In fact, depending on the choice of individuals, the money saved on taxes would be also deployed for savings which will be useful for banks in particular. Industries too will benefit on both the consumer and infra sides as people spend money on consumer goods and the government keeps spending on infra projects,” he said.
NSE FMCG index rose 3.01 per cent and NSE Consumer durables gained 2.34 per cent.
Shares of Radico Khaitan surged 8.97 per cent, Godrej Consumer Products gained 5.69 per cent, ITC Hotels was up 5 per cent and Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) rose 1.47 per cent.
Among consumer durables companies, Blue Star surged 11.83 per cent and Crompton gained 6.95 per cent.
Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro fell 3.36 per cent, JSW Infrastructure ended 3 per cent down and IRB Infrastructure declined 2.93 per cent.
Domestic benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended flat on Saturday in a highly volatile special trading session for the Union Budget amid a below-expected increase in capital expenditure and reduction in personal income tax rates announced to give a fillip to the slowing consumption in the country.
After opening on a positive note, the 30-share BSE Sensex marginally gained 0.01 per cent, or 5.39 points, to settle at 77,505.96 and the broader Nifty 50 lost 0.11 per cent, or 26.25 points to finish at 23,482.15. The liquidity in the market was low in the absence of foreign investors.
While the benchmark indices witnessed volatility, shares of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), consumer durables and auto companies rose on Saturday helped by the income tax relief announced in the Budget.
In the choppy trading session, the Sensex saw a swing of around 893 points and Nifty of 314.15 points. When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman started her budget speech at 11 AM, the Sensex was at 77,773.27, touched a high of 77,808.36 at around 11:45 am and then declined to 77,228.87 when she ended her speech at around 12:15 pm. The Nifty was at 23591.12 at 11 am, reached 23,622.07 at 11:45 am and then dropped to 23498.24 at 12:15 pm.
“I would divide the Budget into two parts. One is on the personal taxation front, where the announcements were better than expected. These announcements would help boost consumption maybe after some time. Second is the outlay on capex, which essentially disappointed the market to an extent. The finance minister is depending more on the private sector to start spending,” said independent market analyst Ambrish Baliga.
The selling in the market was seen as the Finance Bill 2025 proposed to hike the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on income from certain remaining securities from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent from April 1, 2026 for foreign institutional investors (FIIs).
In the Budget 2025-26, the finance minister announced a capital expenditure of about Rs 11.21 lakh crore for FY 2025-26, compared to Rs 10.18 lakh crore revised estimate for the current fiscal.
On the personal income tax front, the finance minister rationalised tax slabs by increasing the tax exemption limit up to Rs 12 lakh.
“To tax payers upto Rs 12 lakh of normal income (other than special rate income such as capital gains) tax rebate is being provided in addition to the benefit due to slab rate reduction in such a manner that there is no tax payable by them,” Sitharaman said.
To reduce the multiplicity of rates and compliance burden, the Budget also proposed to bring down certain tax deduction at source (TDS).
According to Sakshi Gupta, Principal Economist, HDFC Bank, the rationalisation of income tax slabs across the board along with the revision in the limits of the TDS is likely to spur consumer demand and savings by the middle class that has faced challenges from elevated inflation and lower income growth.
Bank of Baroda Chief Economist Madan Sabnavis said that major relief for individual taxpayers was a demand for long which was met quite decisively in the budget.
“In fact, depending on the choice of individuals, the money saved on taxes would be also deployed for savings which will be useful for banks in particular. Industries too will benefit on both the consumer and infra sides as people spend money on consumer goods and the government keeps spending on infra projects,” he said.
NSE FMCG index rose 3.01 per cent and NSE Consumer durables gained 2.34 per cent.
Shares of Radico Khaitan surged 8.97 per cent, Godrej Consumer Products gained 5.69 per cent, ITC Hotels was up 5 per cent and Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) rose 1.47 per cent.
Among consumer durables companies, Blue Star surged 11.83 per cent and Crompton gained 6.95 per cent.
Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro fell 3.36 per cent, JSW Infrastructure ended 3 per cent down and IRB Infrastructure declined 2.93 per cent.
